


All Things Considered

by drosophilase



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13691490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drosophilase/pseuds/drosophilase
Summary: For their first date, Darren tries to go all-out and make it perfect. The universe has other plans.





	All Things Considered

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serohtonin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serohtonin/gifts).



Chris looks at his phone again, giving up on staring at the front of the restaurant. The text from his date, Darren, still hasn’t changed -  _ 7:00 at Richmond’s, I’ll be the one in the red jacket. You can’t miss the hair. _

Chris looks at the time on his glowing dashboard, like the one on his phone might be lying. But it also reads 7:08, and Chris hasn’t seen anyone that looks remotely like the pictures of Darren on the dating app.  There’s also no red jackets or any remarkable hair to speak of.

He swipes over to his texts again. He hadn’t heard from Darren in the past few hours, but he had texted Chris good morning with an obnoxious amount of smiling emojis, and he had mentioned again how excited he was that they were finally getting to meet up for a date, and Chris really didn’t think of him as the time to stand anyone up. In fact part of what kept him talking to Darren was their shared experience with nightmare matches on the app, the pleasant surprise when a whole conversation could be had without terrible oversexualized pickup lines.

It had been almost two weeks of texting Darren constantly, learning about his work (auditions, picking up odd shifts playing guitar at a coffee shop, and nights in rehearsals for a small stage production that Darren described as “experimental”) and arguing over celebrity Harry Potter sortings. Chris hasn’t had this much fun getting to know someone knew, well,  _ ever _ . And that’s probably why he’s going against his better judgment, meeting Darren for a nice dinner instead of something easier to escape.  He already made sure to tell Amber the plans for the evening, as well as every single detail he’s gleaned so far about Darren, but. There’s just something about Darren he  _ likes _ .

Being kept waiting, however, Chris does not like. Especially without even a cursory text acknowledging that he’s running late.  Chris’s got half a message typed out - although basically anything he could say would be pathetic - when a flash of red makes him look up. Ah, there he is.

The guy in the red jacket does look like the pictures of Darren, tiny and tight-bodied in a way that Chris hadn’t gotten to fully appreciate in two dimensions.  However the full, shiny mop of hair--  _ the hair-- _ is starkly absent.

Darren looks around, a wild look in his eye. It takes Chris a second to realize that Darren’s looking for  _ him _ . His phone chimes.

_ So sorry dude. Today has been a nightmare. If you haven’t given up on me, I’ve got a good story for you. _

Chris grins despite himself, and before he can lose his nerve, steps out of the car.

“I expect the most dramatic retelling you can do, and because it’s you, I’m expecting a lot,” Chris calls, slamming the door shut behind him.

Darren’s head whips around, eyes lighting up and smile breaking out and Chris feels warm all the way down to his toes.   _ That _ is a beautiful sight.

“Chris,” Darren says, relief palpable in his voice, “so good to see you.”  He folds Chris into a hug (it doesn’t surprise Chris that he’s a toucher) and to his own surprise, Chris returns it.  “I was pretty convinced you’d think I’d stood you up and would never talk to me again.”

“Well, I did think that for a minute,” Chris teases, falling into step next to Darren to finally go inside the restaurant. “But I think this story is going to make me glad I didn’t leave.”

Darren grimaces, running a hand over his closely-shorn hair before reaching for the door.  “Yeah, it’s been a pretty crazy like four hours, for some reason? I’m just glad it’s--”

Chris steps in behind Darren, eyes adjusting to the dim interior.

“--Over,” Darren says, an afterthought. Chris barely hears him.

Richmond’s is much more…  _ pink _ than Chris remembers it. Pink, and red, and lacey, and glittery. It’s like a grade school Valentine’s party funded by a rich parent with more money than sense.  Chris blinks, looking around in disbelief.

Darren curses. “Valentine’s Day is next fucking week, what is this?”

“Hi there!” the hostess chirps, heart-shaped antenna headband bobbing.  “Do you have a reservation?”

Darren steps up to talk to the hostess.  The waiting stretches uncomfortably long, Chris feeling more awkward by the second as other couples are lining up behind him.  Finally, Darren, a little red in the face, turns around and motions for Chris to follow the hostess.

They don’t stop at a cozy booth, but instead turn right towards the bar area.

“Oh, the bar,” Chris snarks without thinking, taking the menu from the hostess.

“Jesus, I’m sorry,” Darren says, clearly upset.  “They lost our reservation, apparently, and the wait is 30 minutes for a booth.  Is this okay?”

Chris basically melts at the earnestness, and then he notices as Darren takes off the red jacket that the patterned shirt underneath exactly matches the painting behind him, and he can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up.  “Yes, it’s okay. It’s pretty funny actually. I mean the lost reservation, the decorations….”

Darren leans back, starting to smile himself. “Just my fucking luck. I finally get the impossibly smart and devastatingly handsome guy to agree to a date, and the entire universe is conspiring against me."

Chris grins over the edge of his menu, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.  “Not the  _ whole _ universe.”

The server arrives finally, so Darren can only raise his eyebrows in response.

“The biggest Diet Coke you have, and something with vodka. Please.”

“Pepsi okay?”

Chris looks to the heavens for strength.  “Absolutely not. But I’ll live.”

Darren looks torn between laughing and crying.  “Whiskey, neat.”

\---

Darren is… incredible.  It’s not just the fruity cocktail that the server picked for him that’s making Chris feel warm and happy and loosening his tongue.  Darren listens to Chris like he’s hanging on every word, leaned over the table so far that he’s practically falling into the floating tealight centerpiece.  He asks thoughtful questions, and when Chris finally gets to turn the tables on him, Darren never talks too long about himself.  He  _ does _ talk for a long time about franchises, legacies, and directors in both the new  _ Star Wars _ trilogy and the new  _ Fantastic Beasts _ series.  (For the record, they totally agree -  _ Star Wars _ is a worthy successor, while  _ Fantastic Beasts _ feels more like a cash grab with every press release).  

The bar only serves small plates, so Darren tells the server to bring them one of everything.  Even though there’s only 6 dishes on the small plate menu, Chris still gets a thrill out of it.

“Okay so what on earth happened to your  _ hair? _ ” Chris asks, circling back around to a conversation they’ve tried to have three times already but couldn’t stay on track.

“Oh yeah,” Darren says, reaching up as if reflexive to ruffle his hair again.  “First of all, to be fair, I may have exaggerated the juiciness of this story.”

Chris shakes his head.  “Absolutely not, no weaseling out of this. I was promised drama! Intrigue! Mystery!”

Darren laughs, his eyes crinkling until they’re nearly shut.  “Okay! Okay. So there I was. Babysitting.”

“Baby Groot? A porg? Gremlins?” Chris prompts. 

“Definitely a Gremlin,” Darren agrees. “I told the mysterious shop owner that I could handle one Gremlin no problem, and had hoped to take on two Gremlins solo in the near future, but I ignored all wise and helpful magical words and fed my nephew Gremlin after midnight.”

Chris gasps dramatically, clutching his chest. “No!”

“Yes!” Darren gasps too.  “And that chaotic little Gremlin not only got ahold of the candy I had totally hidden and did not just leave out on my coffee table, because I’m a responsible sitter, but he also managed to get a Jolly Rancher stuck firmly in the back of my head. Where I didn’t find it for several hours.”

Chris is laughing so hard he’s tearing up.  “Oh my  _ god.  _ It just disappeared right into the fro. Like so many woodland animals.”

Darren nods solemnly, gesturing around his head like he can still feel the missing hair.  “Poor dude didn’t stand a chance against blue raspberry.  By the time I noticed it it was like 3 PM and I was in straight panic mode. I had to go to whatever the upscale LA version of Supercuts is to get it cut.  I’m traumatized on so many levels.”

Chris  _ tsk _ s, half-reaching out a hand to do something (pat on the hand? Run his hand through the curls falling over Darren’s forehead? Slap himself in the face?) but instead grabbing the straw of his empty drink to chew on it.  “RIP to the mane. At least it went out in a blaze of glory.”

Darren laughs, but there’s an edge to it. Chris realizes he’s probably still conflicted about having to do such a big chop so suddenly.  He puts the straw back in his glass and reaches out before he can second-guess himself, clumsily patting Darren’s elbow.  “Good thing you would be sexy even completely bald.  You’ve got a kind of Catholic school boy-gone-bad vibe now. I can dig that.”

It’s still such a wonder to see Darren just completely light up from the inside out, shining like the sun with a beaming smile. Chris doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to it.  “I think you’re over-exaggerating,” Darren says. “But I also think we should find a bald cap immediately because I suddenly am dying to see how much I’ll look like my dad when I’m old and bald someday.”

“You wanna do this? I know a 24-hour costume shop not five miles from here. They know me by first and last name.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

\---

The server brings the completely wrong check to their table, then struggles to split their drinks and food onto two separate tickets. Darren eventually gives him his card to cover the whole thing, telling Chris, “You can get it next time.”

Chris thinks about that all the way outside as Darren walks him to his car, shrugging back on his red jacket.

“I will, by the way. Get it next time, I mean.”

Darren looks up at him, smile starting at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah? This disaster of a date didn’t turn you off indefinitely?”

Chris shakes his head.  “I’ve had worse. We could have ended up at the emergency room, we could have--”

Darren shushes him, stepping forward with a finger raised as if to put it over Chris’s mouth.  He stops just before touching him. “You better not jinx it.”

Chris huffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes. “We’ll make our own luck.”  Darren’s so close to him now, eyes shining even in the dull light from the street lights, dark eyelashes winging shadows on his cheeks. Chris thinks he’s beautiful.

Darren touches his hip and Chris shudders, nearly jumping out of his skin. The warmth is grounding and he leans in, kissing Darren before he thinks too hard about it and because he really, really wants to.

They pull back and Darren is blinding and Chris narrows his eyes and smiles.  “Until next time.”


End file.
